What it means that stocks are in a ‘correction’

Stocks swung up and down after indexes started the session 2 percent lower, underscoring a return of volatility to a market that until recently had been known for the absence of such major shifts.

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The Shanghai Composite index dipped to 3,073.08 Friday morning but recovered slightly before its midday close. Employers are hiring at a healthy pace, with unemployment at a 17-year low of 4.1 percent.

The Nikkei 225 tumbled as much as 7.1 per cent on Tuesday before regaining some lost ground to close 4.7 per cent lower. Germany’s DAX declined 2.6 percent.

The Dow finished with a decline of 1,033 points, the second-worst in history, eclipsed only by Monday’s 1,175-point plunge.

What many failed to predict, however, is the S&P 500’s blazing slide from a record high on January 26 to a drop of 10 percent on Thursday.

Despite the big swings, Tuesday’s trading looked similar to the patterns that have shaped the market for the a year ago: investors bought retailers like Amazon and Home Depot and technology and industrial companies and banks, which do better when economic growth is strong.

Following relatively little change on Wednesday, the index once again experienced a drop Thursday, closing at 23,860, a decrease of 1,032 or about 4 percent.

The latest round of selling knocked the Dow and S&P 500 back into the red for the year. Based on a recent bid, its distance from 20 days simple moving average is 0.45%, and its distance from 50 days simple moving average is 6.62% while it has a distance of 38.20% from the 200 days simple moving average.

Investors often buy gold when they’re anxious about market volatility, but they aren’t doing that now.

Walmart was the biggest decliner in the 30-company Dow, sliding $2.43, or 2.4 percent, to $97.59.

US consumer prices rose 2.1 percent year-on-year in December and is forecast to stay around that pace this month.

The Dow Jones industrials are down 500 points, extending the market’s losses. If rates rise quickly, that argument becomes much less persuasive.

Investors are weighing whether the sharp swings are the start of a deeper correction or just a temporary bump in the prolonged bull market.

Corrections of up to 15 percent “are normal”, said Oliver. Schutte said that as central banks stop propping up the market, trading will probably be more volatile in the next few years. Skechers USA climbed $2.88, or 7.5 percent, to $41.06.

The S&P 500 gave up 44 points, or 1.7 percent, to 2,637. The Dow is on track for its worst weekly percentage drop since the crisis.

Major indexes in Asia and Europe sank Tuesday and U.S. markets started sharply lower, zigzagging between gains and losses. Microsoft and JPMorgan Chase each lost 1.7 percent. The S&P 500, for example, has fallen 7.8 per cent since it set its latest record high on January 26.

Unlike Dow’s drop on Monday, which was the largest intraday drop in about 6years, Thursday’s fall did not correlate with the bitcoin markets as strongly. The Nasdaq was down 125 points, or 1.8 percent, to 6,651.

The American flag flies above the Wall Street entrance to the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Nov. 13, 2015.

Twitter had a banner day, soaring 12 percent after turning in a profit for the first time.

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Recent U.S. tax cuts that may spur economic growth, the prospect of more government borrowing to fund a widening fiscal deficit, and rising wages, have all pushed up benchmark U.S. Treasury yields to near four year highs.